


a plan without planning

by theladyscribe



Category: Agents of S.H.I.E.L.D. (TV), Marvel Cinematic Universe, Push (2009)
Genre: Crossover, Gen, Shady Government Organizations, Some Humor
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2014-08-29
Updated: 2014-08-29
Packaged: 2018-02-15 05:48:28
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 1,480
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/2218092
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/theladyscribe/pseuds/theladyscribe
Summary: <blockquote class="userstuff">
              <p>Leo meets Cassie in a quiet bar just outside of Washington, DC. Jemma's gone to use the ladies' room, and he's drinking his pint, minding his own business, when this girl with purple hair sits down next to him and says, "Come here often?"</p>
            </blockquote>





	a plan without planning

**Author's Note:**

  * For [Morbane](https://archiveofourown.org/users/Morbane/gifts).



Leo meets Cassie in a quiet bar just outside of Washington, DC. Jemma's gone to use the ladies' room, and he's drinking his pint, minding his own business, when this girl with purple hair sits down next to him and says, "Come here often?"

Leo frowns at her and says, "Not that it's any of your business, but yes, I do. And I'm on a date, so if you'll excuse me--"

"Does your date know you're on a date?" the girl asks, hand on her chin and inquisitive look in her eye.

He pauses long enough before answering for her to say, "Didn't think so. I'm Cassie." She thrusts a hand out, and Leo takes it out of habit.

"Leo Fitz," he answers, slightly dumbfounded.

"Leo," she repeats. "Wanna get out of here?"

"No," he says, turning back to his beer.

"Everything alright, Fitz?" says Jemma from his other shoulder.

"Peachy," says Cassie. "I was just leaving." She hops off the barstool and gives Leo a wink before waltzing out the door.

"What was that about?" Jemma asks.

"I've absolutely no idea."

*

Leo largely forgets about the incident at the bar, having more than enough on his mind with Jemma trying to convince him to join her for a field assignment. (It isn't that he's uninterested in working in the field, as he has explained to her repeatedly. It's just that the Academy has everything he might possibly need to build his non-lethal weapons, and he won't be able to work on them so steadily if they're in the field.)

He'd have forgotten about it entirely, but he goes grocery shopping one evening (at the fancy grocery, as it's the only place in this country that carries proper chocolates), and as he walks down the aisle toward the Cadbury bars, someone taps him on the shoulder.

"Hey, Leo, it is Leo, right?" says the guy, who looks like he hasn't slept in a while. Before Leo can ask the man how he knows his name, he continues, "Cassie said you'd be in the candy aisle, so I guess that's you, yeah?"

Leo's so confused that all he can do is nod.

The man looks relieved. "Oh good. I'm Nick. We need your help."

Leo looks back at him dubiously. This guy has at least a couple inches and probably a dozen kilos on him. The idea that he'd need Leo's help in the grocery is laughable at best.

"I'm sorry, I don't--"

"Cassie said you might be resistant to the idea. Look, I'm really sorry, but--" Leo doesn't hear the rest of the sentence because Nick has just hit him over the head.

*

He comes to in a seedy motel room on a bed with scratchy sheets. When he tries to sit up, he realizes someone has handcuffed him to the headboard.

"Sorry about that," says Cassie, whose hair is teal green and cut shorter than the last time Leo saw her. "I wanted to make sure you didn't just take off without hearing us out."

Leo looks around the room, too stunned to say anything. The Nick guy is lurking in the corner by the door, looking menacing.

Leo finally swallows and whispers, "What do you want with me?"

"Like Nick said, we need your help."

"Why should I help you?" he asks with a bravado he doesn't really feel. His eyes flick back to Nick, who hasn't even twitched.

"Haven't you ever wondered what SHIELD means?"

"It's the Strategic Homeland Intervention, Enforcement, and Logistics Division," he says, rattling off the familiar words with ease. "Everyone who's anyone knows that. It's in the handbook."

"Everyone who's anyone is wrong," Cassie says. "It's not one long title for a single entity. It's six parts of a whole: Strategic, Homeland, Intervention, Enforcement, Logistics, _and_ Division. Oxford commas and the correct placement of conjunctions are important."

Leo frowns, ready to contradict her, but Cassie speaks over any protests he might have formed, launching into a detailed explanation of what each head actually does, their relative sizes, and where he fits into the system. (He's set to be placed in Intervention, she says, because he's not really shady enough for the rest of them. Leo doesn't know whether to be insulted or take it as a compliment.)

She spends the most time on Division, telling him about people with powers, people who can do things with their minds that other humans can't ( _mutants_ , he thinks, though he doesn't dare say it out loud). Cassie says that she can see the future and that Nick can move things, and they know people who erase memories and who scream like banshees and who can track anyone anywhere.

"What, like a bloodhound?" he asks, because that's just _absurd_.

"Something like that," Nick says from the corner.

"You need proof," Cassie says. She glances back at Nick. "Do it."

Nick's glare intensifies, and Fitz thinks maybe the man is trying to melt his brain but then he realizes the cuffs around his hands have unlocked.

"If that doesn't convince you, in about… thirty seconds, a car will backfire outside."

Leo's too intrigued to even think about trying to run, and sure enough, in less than thirty seconds, there's a loud bang from the parking lot. Nick, he notices, doesn't even flinch.

Leo shuts his eyes and takes a deep breath. "What do you want me to do?"

He opens his eyes just in time to see Cassie give Nick a triumphant grin.

Cassie explains that they need a device which can protect them from Watchers like herself. When he suggests introducing them to Jemma, she hesitates.

"Jemma is my partner," he insists. "She'll know how to trace the neural pathways that lead to your abilities and perhaps be able to reverse-engineer it."

"We'd rather not involve anyone we don't have to," Nick says in a tone that, to Leo, brooks no argument.

Cassie, on the other hand, turns her gaze on Nick and engages him in an animated conversation made up primarily of eyebrow motions and grimaces. She looks back at Leo. "If you'll need her help, get it. But don't tell her why."

*

It takes Leo very little effort to convince Jemma to work on this little side project with him, which would be disconcerting if it were anyone but Jemma. The moment he brings up the possibility of mapping the neural pathways of mutants, she's off, describing not only how to do it but what could be done with the information.

"Would it be possible to build something to block a mutant's abilities?"

Jemma wrinkles her nose. "Of course it would! Magneto's helmet does, and you and I have far better resources and fashion sense."

They set to work, and Leo tries not to feel guilty when he tells her that it's simply an educational exercise, to see if they can do it. She takes it in stride, and it's a matter of days before they have working prototypes.

He isn't sure how to get the news to Cassie and Nick, but it turns out he doesn't have to. He's browsing the new bestsellers at the library when he finds Cassie waiting for him at the end of the aisle.

"Do you have it with you?" she asks.

"Of course not," he hisses. "We're at the library."

She shrugs. "It was worth a shot. Can we come get it tonight?"

Leo glances around, looking for Nick. "Meet me in the park tomorrow at noon. I'll have it then."

"Deal. See you then." She plants a kiss on his cheek and practically skips away.

*

It isn't just Nick and Cassie who meet him in the park the next afternoon. There's a woman with them, whom Cassie introduces as Alisha. Leo nods in greeting, but Alisha doesn't say anything in return.

"Do you have them?" Nick asks impatiently.

Leo pulls out the two helmets, and Cassie takes them carefully. She hands one to Nick, who puts it on. She presses a hand to her forehead and then breaks into a grin. "Can't see your future, Nick. Not even a hint." She turns back to Leo. "Looks like it worked. Thank you."

"Of course," he says, pleased that his and Jemma's invention was a success, even if he's still not sure what to make of these people. "Is that it, then?"

"There's just one more thing." There's a wistful look in her eye as she nods to Alisha. "It's for your protection," she says, "and if there were any other way…"

Alisha comes forward and presses her hands to Leo's temples.

*

Leo comes back from lunch in the park and finds Jemma in their lab with a frown on her face. "Someone took our neural incapacitator prototypes and all the lab notes."

Leo doesn't have the heart to tell her he has no idea what she's talking about.

**Author's Note:**

> As soon as I saw the suggestion that Division might be a part of SHIELD, I knew I had to write this story. I hope it does your brilliant suggestion justice, Morbane!
> 
> Title is a line from _Push_. Many thanks to Aenaria and allofthefandoms for the cheerleading and beta work on this. I couldn't have done it without you.


End file.
